The present invention relates to an assembled interlock needle cylinder structure of a circular knitting machine, and more particularly to an interlock needle cylinder which can be disassembled so that the cotton chips generated from cotton yarns and accumulated in a corner during the knitting operation of the knitting needles can be easily cleaned up. Moreover, in case a part of the needle cylinder is damaged, this part can be solely replaced without replacing the whole needle cylinder.
It is known that in a conventional circular knitting machine, the knitting needles have been greatly improved in order to create different figures and stripes. However, the knitting needles are designed with different shapes for knitting different stripes. Once the shape of the knitting needle is modified or changed, the relevant operating structures such as the sinker, front needle seat and rear needle seat, etc. must be correspondingly changed. Especially during the knitting operation of a circular knitting machine, when the knitting needles continuously knit the cotton yarns, cotton chips will be produced from the cotton yarns. When suffering the shocking force during the knitting operation, such cotton chips are likely to drop down onto the needle channels and block the same. This will affect the production amount of the knit cloth. In addition, in case the cotton chips are knit into the cloth, the cloth will be mingled with the cotton chips and have a poor quality.
Furthermore, in a conventional circular knitting machine, multiple needle channels are formed on an outer surface of the needle cylinder and a relatively deep annular groove is formed at upper ends of the needle channels around the needle cylinder, whereby when the needles operate up and down in the needle channels, the produced cotton chips will not only drop out of the needle cylinder but also drop into the annular groove. However, the annular groove has corners and the cotton chips are likely to drop into these corners. Although a blowing pipe is provided on an outer side of the needle cylinder to blow away the cotton chips, it is still difficult to effectively clean up the cotton chips from the corners. The cotton chips will accumulate more and more after a long period of use. This will lead to malfunction of the knitting needles. Although the cotton chips can be cleaned up manually, it is time-costing and labor-wasting to totally clean up the cotton chips. In addition, the conventional needle cylinder is integrally molded, so that in case a part of the needle cylinder is worn out or damaged, the whole needle cylinder must be replaced.
Therefore, it is necessary to provide an improved interlock needle cylinder of a circular knitting machine to solve the above problems.